


Just The Way You Are

by sevenminutes



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic, st. berry babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-20 12:43:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3650793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenminutes/pseuds/sevenminutes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jesse and Rachel listen in on their daughter's speech to her class about her hero. (AU Future!fic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just The Way You Are

**Author's Note:**

  * For [androgenius](https://archiveofourown.org/users/androgenius/gifts).



> Title taken from the Billy Joel song. This is a fic I wrote based on a 1x1 roleplay with my rp partner, where [Jesse is paralyzed following a car accident](http://ourstage.dreamwidth.org/11362.html). (I am completely biased, but it's really worth reading.) If you don't have the time, all you need to know is: Jesse had to work through a lot of crap to accept his handicap and he's still very insecure about it, but he and Rachel have a great life and two kids. Enjoy!

 

 

" _Shh_!"

Jesse throws Rachel an indignant look over his shoulder as she grabs the handles of his chair to bring him to an abrupt stop in front of the door in the hallway.

"Hey! I thought you said we needed to come in for a conference—"

"Well," Rachel says, drawing the word out in that way that she does when she's not been  _totally_ honest with him. "Not exactly."

Jesse shakes his head blankly, gesturing for her to keep talking. 

" _What_ , exactly?"

"Just—" Scattered and off-beat applause filters out from the open classroom door. "Oh, here we go!"

"Next up, we have Lucy to share her report! Lucy, are you ready to tell the class about your hero?"

"Yes, I am, Mrs. Gates."

She is every bit Rachel's daughter. Jesse hears his daughter clear her throat primly, the paper crinkling slightly in her hands and he inches forward so that he can just barely see her. Putting the brakes on his chair, he holds his arm out to Rachel with a smile to invite her onto his knee. She's almost four months along now, and he puts his hand on her belly as she settles in his lap, kissing his temple.

"My name is Lucille Grace St. James, and my hero report is about my daddy."

With those last seven words from his seven year old daughter, Jesse's heart stops in his chest. Rachel, clearly having gotten a heads up about their little one's subject, is already tearing up, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"My favorite hero in the world is my daddy. My daddy is better than all the other daddies in the world, including all of your daddies."

He has to smile at the way she doesn't even try to hide the superior tone behind her words. That's his little girl, and if anyone ever doubted she was his...

"My daddy is better than other daddies because he can carry me for hours and hours and hours and he never gets tired. He can carry me  _and_  my brother for a lot of miles."

Rachel smiles as she leans into his shoulder, her head resting on top of his.

"My daddy doesn't use his legs like other people. He has a chair that he sits in with bicycle wheels on the side. It's  _way_ cooler than walking because if the road is empty, he can go way faster than anyone else, even as fast as a car can."

There are a couple awed noises from her classmates, and Jesse's heart tightens a little in his chest as he tucks his face into Rachel's shoulder, watching Lucy scratch the side of her head and set her braid even more askew.

"My daddy is my hero because he's the strongest man in the world, too. His arms have really strong muscles and he can pick me up over his head, but we can't tell mommy when he does it because she thinks it's unsafe. But I know that it's not, because my daddy would never let me get hurt ever."

Ignoring the judgmental sigh from his wife, Jesse smiles as he watches his little girl straighten up proudly, smiling to display her missing front tooth.

"My daddy is my hero because he brings me to school every morning and braids my hair even better than mommy. My daddy also makes princess music, and he writes me a song for my birthday every year. My birthday is in three months, one week, and five days, and my daddy says that it's his favorite day of the year. He also says that about my brother's birthday and my mommy's, but that's why he's my hero, too."

It doesn't quite make sense in that little child way of speech, but he can tell by the way she's nodding intently to her classmates that she's not done speaking.

"My daddy is my hero because he loves me and my family more than anything in the whole wide world. Even more than Stephen Sondheim and his Tony Award."

Nodding once more in finality, Lucy stands at the front of the room as her classmates applaud for her essay.

Jesse looks up at Rachel, tears in both of their eyes, and nods for her to hop off. He has a heroic grand entrance to make. Taking the breaks off, Jesse wheels in smoothly through the doorway of the classroom, a few children gasping in surprise. 

" _Daddy_!" Lucy bounces excitedly when she sees him, running full throttle between the tables scattered around the room, crashing against his knees as Jesse picks her up with a grin, lifting her above his head as she giggles.

"Hey, angel!" he smiles, settling her into his lap as he kisses the top of her head.

"Did you and mommy hear my report?" she asks, bouncing in his lap. 

"We sure did!" Rachel pipes up from where she's passing out gluten-free teddy grahams to the class.

Jesse couldn't be happier, or more proud to have been chosen as his daughter's hero. The things that make him her hero are the things he always thought would hold him back. 

It couldn't be farther from the truth. He loves his kids and they think he hung the moon, chair and all. He has a gorgeous wife who loves and understands him better than anyone else. He won a Tony Award for his writing. He really does have it all, and he might not have had any of it if it weren't for his accident. 

With his little girl in his lap and his wife beaming at him, he really does feel like a hero.

"I'm  _honored_  that you chose me, angel," he says sincerely, Lucy all smiles as she tucks her face into his neck in response.

 

&.

the end


End file.
